Graphics card on way out.

[joe-90]

I've got an Nvidia GeForce 8300 gs installed atm, but it may be on way out, keeps crashing when playing video. I cleaned it up last time as it had fluff in the fan (thanks Igorian), and will do again, but was wondering what similar type of alternative might be out there. I don't do games and stuff.

Cheers.

 

[spinynorman]

Your choice of a replacement is limited mostly by budget. I have no particular loyalty to nVidia or ATI but if you really don't need to use the card for games there are many cheap possibilities. I've kept an old 256MB ATI X850XT (limited to DirectX 9 and SM 2.0) in a spare box and it handles everything except games made in the last 3-4 years.

Those, for example, are around £20 on ebay these days but it's worth waiting for one with an aftermarket 'Arctic Cooling' cooler as they provide a higher level of cooling with minimal noise. It's not a hard job to fit such coolers so you might even find something similar for your existing card. Aside from the improved hardware you'd also have the opportunity to renew the thermal interface materials on the GPU and maybe the memory chips, depending on what's included in the kit.

Before you buy or change anything it's only a few minutes work to install the latest graphics drivers if you haven't done so already.

 

[joe-90]

Thanks for that. I've just left the side panel off at the moment. It only overheats if I watch I-player or something.

 

[tahir2]

Take off heatsink and fan, wipe clean, apply some thermal goo (get it from Maplins) and there you go.

Otherwise.. if its PCI-E then you can get a decent alternative for around £20 e.g. Radeon HD 5450 or Nvidia G210.

 

[joe-90]

Is the one that's in (8300) PCI-E?

 

[tahir2]

90% sure it is.
Post a pic of it to be 100% sure.

 

[EFCLee1]

I've got an Nvidia GeForce 8300 gs installed atm, but it may be on way out, keeps crashing when playing video. I cleaned it up last time as it had fluff in the fan (thanks Igorian), and will do again, but was wondering what similar type of alternative might be out there. I don't do games and stuff.

Cheers.

Why are you convinced its a hardware fault with your graphics card?

Before you go spending on a new card try a re-install of windows, you would be surprised how many problems this fixes!!

 

[joe-90]

Because I've seen it before and is a well known fault (yellow lines down the screen) followed by the blue screen of death. I'm monitoring the temperature now - and no probs since.